Benghazi dubbed ‘disaster zone’ as fighting hits Tripoli

Violence continues to spiral in Libya on Monday, with heavy bombing reported in the eastern city of Benghazi - fighting also reached the capital Tripoli, temporarily shutting the city’s main working airport.

On Monday Omar al-Hassi, who heads Libya's self-declared government the General National Council (GNC), said that Benghazi had become a “disaster area,” and that politicians and aid groups must do more to protect civilians in the area.

His comments come two days after Hassi's main rival, House of Representatives (HoR), also issued statements from Tripoli calling Benghazi a “disaster area”, saying that international and local aid groups had to take “moral responsibility” and act to save Benghazi from "terrorists."

The internationally-recognised government led by Abdullah al-Thinni and his elected House of Representatives remain holed up in the far eastern city of Tobruk, and the two factions are now vying for control over Libya and its precious oil resources.

The words of warning from the two rival camps come on the back of an escalation in fighting in the city, which has been a key battleground between forces loyal to rogue ex-general Khalifa Haftar, battling under a nationalist banner and attempting to fight off what he deems to be “Islamist” militias.

On Saturday, jets belonging to Haftar pounded Libya’s second city, bombing the al-Nuran hotel and other targets in central Benghazi known to have been hotbeds for Ansar al-Sharia militias.

The hotel was one of the last major positions held by Ansar al-Sharia in the city's Sabri district , which has seen fierce battles during two last weeks.  

According to a Haftar spokesperson, Ansar al-Sharia, one of the largest forces in the Benghazi Revolutionaries Shura Council, had deployed a number of snipers at the hotel.

Fighting between forces loyal to the Tobruk-based House of Representatives and Libya Dawn militias, who are allied with the Tripoli-based GNC, also raged near the city’s Mitiga air base.

The base became Libya’s main airport after fighting caused heavy damage to Tripoli International in July.

Armed clashes broke out in Libya's capital Tripoli closing down the city's main working airport, local residents and an official said on Sunday, and by Monday at least four people had been killed and 10 wounded in clashes, security sources told Reuters.

The airport has since reopened.

Tripoli has been mostly calm since the Libya Dawn force, an armed faction allied to the GNC, seized control of the city in late August.

More than three years after former strongman Muammar Gaddafi was toppled and killed in a NATO-backed revolt, Libya is awash with weapons and powerful militias, and is run by rival governments and parliaments.